Death In The Pridelands
by Akili18
Summary: Strange occurrences in the Pridelands. Kiara has gone ill and mysterious deaths are occurring. Will the problem be solved or will these occurrences continue?
1. The Deaths

It was getting dark over the Pridelands. The air was heavy. Clouds were rolling in. Akili and Simba were at the base of Priderock after their experience in the elephant graveyard. They were panicked, didn't know what to expect now.

"Kiara, is Kovu here?" Simba asked short of breath.

"No, he's still disposing the hyena bodies, is something wrong?" Kiara was getting worried now.

"Nothing's wrong, just stay here" Akili said before he and Simba started running again.

The sun was covered completely by a layer of clouds. Akili and Simba were still running to find Kovu. After a minute of running they found Kovu dragging a hyena through the grass.

"Kovu! Where have you been bringing the bodies?" Akili shouted to Kovu.

"I've been bringing them by the river like we usually do, why?" Kovu was a bit confused as to why he was being asked that.

"We need to see them and now" Simba ordered.

They helped Kovu bring the other body to the river. The hyena he was carrying was the one with the cut throat. Once they brought the hyena with the others Akili and Simba noticed the hyena that was drowned by Akili was there. Coldness blew over Simba and Akili seeing the hyena here. Kovu could tell something was wrong with the two.

"Is there something wrong?" Kovu asked calmly.

"No, everything is alright" Simba replied.

"Are you sure about that Simba?" Akili chimed in while staring at the river.

Through the calm flow of the river Akili saw something out of the ordinary. The trio waited for it to get to them. Once it finally reached them they knew what it was. The body of a zebra slowly flowed past them. The body was missing its head. The legs were broken. There was a carving on the zebra of words. It read _Look Behind You. _The trio looked at each other with horrified expressions.

"Do you really want to do as it says?" Akili said, breaking the silence.

"We're going to have to" Kovu said reluctantly.

"You realize I don't want to do this" Simba said worriedly.

"Man up Simba" Akili said before they turned around.

They looked behind them. What they saw horrified them. On a tree was the head of the zebra, nailed in by a stick. The eyes were filled with blackness of nothing. Dry blood around the eyes. They got closer and saw the tongue was also missing. There wasn't any blood coming from the head which was odd.

"Are you sure everything is alright?" Kovu said, staring at the zebra head.

"Who would do this?" Kovu started sounding scared.

"_What_ would do this?" Akili was worried others are going to get hurt if they don't do something about this.

They started heading back to Priderock. The sky was really cloudy, sun covered with another layer of clouds. A mist starting to form throughout the Pridelands. As they were heading back Akili was trying to figure out who would do something like that. It wasn't an animal or else it would have made noise, and the head wasn't there before when they got there. Then it hit him. It wasn't an animal they were dealing with. It was Death itself.

"How do you guys think everyone else will respond when we tell them?" Akili asked.

"We're not going to say anything about this, we keep it to ourselves" Simba said.

"But they're going to want to know" Kovu said in defense of Akili.

"We don't want to start a panic in the Pridelands, it's the last thing we need" Simba said before everyone stopped talking.

Akili was worried. If he was right about what they're dealing with, they might as well try to find a way to stop it. But what if they couldn't stop it? More animals will die. A panic will start. That's when things go downhill from there. They got to Priderock and saw Nala was crying.

"Nala what's wrong?" Simba said in a comforting voice.

"It's Kiara, something is wrong with her"

Kovu overheard the conversation and ran for Kiara. Akili followed Kovu to the den. There, Kiara lay motionless. She looked up and saw Kovu and Akili and forced a smile.

"I can't move" Kiara said silently.

Simba came up from behind and tears started to form in his eyes when he saw Kiara. Kovu lay besides her holding her paw. Akili feared for the worst. They had to do something and fast or she might not make it.

Kovu gave a silent whisper to Kiara "I'll never leave you"


	2. Akili's Situation

It was getting darker in the Pridelands. A dense fog was still present. Kovu was still resting besides Kiara. Simba was with all of the other lionesses in the den. Akili was outside pacing back and forth. He couldn't sleep, he can't sleep, he had to think of ways to stop this thing from getting out of control. In the distance he could hear the scream of an elephant. He made sure everyone was still sleeping and headed out towards the sounds location. It wasn't right, this isn't supposed to happen. Akili only wanted a new home, to run away from his past, from his father.

Akili got into an open field. This has to be where the sound came from. He slowly started to walk, the moon light making things visible enough to see. After a minute of walking the air turned cold. He had to be close. A few steps later he saw the outline of an elephant lying on the ground. He got closer. Just like the zebra, the eyes were missing, replaced with the flow of blood. The tusks were missing though, Akili feared for what they would be used for. A voice from behind startled Akili and he looked behind to see Simba.

"I'm guessing you heard it to?"

"Everyone heard it Akili, I tried to get Kovu to come with me but he won't leave Kiara"

"So, what's missing on the elephant?" Simba asked.

Akili didn't respond though. He had a blank stare. Simba thought he was looking at him but he wasn't. Simba turned around, Sticking out of the ground were the elephants tusks. There was a zebra on one tusk and an antelope on the other on the other. The tusks went clean through the animals. A pool of blood at the base of the tusks.

"Simba, do you feel as if we aren't dealing with an animal here?"

"Now I do, but what would be capable enough to do this?"

"That's what we'll have to figure out, and we have to do it fast Simba"

"Why do we have to do it fast?" Simba was getting curious.

"I fear whatever is doing this might be affecting Kiara" Akili responded with concern.

"Aside from that, do you remember how to get back?" Akili said looking at his surroundings.

The fog got heavier, enough for someone to get lost in it. Akili and Simba looked at each other.

"Just follow me, I remember the path I took" Simba said.

Akili walked beside Simba through the field. It felt like they were walking for hours and going nowhere. It was really disorienting walking through the fog. You couldn't tell what was around you, it always feels like someone is watching you, planning your death.

"Are almost there Simba?"

"We should be getting close"

They kept walking in silence. The silence was enough to drive someone crazy. Akili was getting tired. They kept walking and then the outline of a tree started to come in.

"Simba, can we stop under that tree over there? I need a minute" Akili said calmly.

"Sure, but be quick"

Akili went to the tree. He looked up and saw its lifeless branches swaying in the breeze. He started to stretch when he heard a cracking noise. He looked back up and saw one of the trees branches were falling. Akili tried to jump out of the way but it landed on his back legs. He laid there, pain taking over his body. He looked up and saw Simba running to get him.

"Akili, are you alright?" Simba was worried.

Akili managed to get a quiet "Help me" out before he collapsed trying to get up. Simba ran off into the fog. Akili was on the ground, everything started going dark. He started to laugh in pain at the thought of the possibility of death. Then after a bit of laughing he stopped. There was only silence before he was left with nothing. Darkness.


	3. Reunited In Death

"Akili, come on already, I think you've had enough sleep for today" A familiar voice said.

"There's never enough sleep" Akili responded.

"I guess you're right, after all you are dead" The voice replied.

That was enough to wake Akili. He bolted upwards and looked around. He was still in the Pridelands but the fog was gone. He looked down by his legs and saw a cub staring back at him, smiling.

"Karibu, is that you?" Akili asked.

"Well who do you think I am?" Karibu said back giggling.

Akili got overwhelmed with happiness. After the events leading to Karibu's death, Akili felt guilty for what had happened. Seeing Karibu again was enough for that guilt to go away. For once Akili finally found happiness in his life. Their father was abusive, heartless, and a killer, took any happiness away from Akili and Karibu. As for their mother, rather than taking away her happiness and joy, he took away her life.

"Karibu, I have to tell you now but I-" Akili got cut off.

"It's alright Akili, it's my fault that you had to be here in the first place"

"But why are you here and not back at our old pride?" Akili was getting curious.

"I stayed with you after you left, I never wanted to leave you, you always brought me comfort in the hardest of times and I thank you for that" As Karibu was talking, tears starting forming in Akili's eyes. Hearing this from his brother made him regret not taking him to the Pridelands with him. That guilt was starting to come back.

"I could've brought you with me Karibu, we could have lived a life of joy, freedom, no longer having to worry about being beat, or even killed, instead I left you for the vultures" The guilt was growing inside of Akili. "All I want is a second chance; I want to make things how they should be, for things to be normal if normal even exists"

"Akili, I forced it upon you and you know it, I couldn't live with myself after what had happened and you know it" Karibu started getting a bit aggravated "Either way, father was bound to get us and he'd have no problem killing us both if we did run"

"I'm just happy I get to see you again and I want that happiness to stay, I'm sick of being scared and stressed" Akili was the one getting emotional. The toll his father put on him was much bigger than what Karibu could understand. Akili always took the blame for Karibu's wrong doings so he could keep his little brother safe from harm.

"Looks like you got others coming to help you Akili" Karibu said as he watched Simba, Kovu, Kiara, and Nala running to Akili's body. When they got there they rushed to move the branch off Akili and carried him to the water hole.

"I think we should follow them Karibu" Akili said before he rushed to catch up to the rest.

It felt weird seeing his body get carried away in front of him. He looked at his back legs where the branch had fallen, they were broken, no doubt about that. He saw Kiara, healthy and active again. It was the fog that made Kiara paralyzed. They set Akili's body down by the water and tried to wake him up. They were bound to save him.

"Akili, that fog will be back again and he'll be with it" Karibu said once he got next to Akili.

"Who is he?" Akili said.

"Forget about that, they seem to be waking you up, I think now it's time we say goodbye" Karibu said in a hurry.

"I don't want to leave you again like I did last time" Akili said in a strict voice.

"Well you're going to have to either way, look, you're slowly disappearing" Karibu said.

Akili looked down at himself, Karibu was right. He was slowly disappearing and will soon be back in the real world. He looked back at Karibu as he started disappearing at a faster rate.

"Akili, remember I will always be there with you, and I will see if I can do something about your legs, how does that sound?" Karibu said.

Akili only smiled back at Karibu.

"Goodbye" Akili said quietly.

"Goodbye" Karibu said in a calming tone.

Akili woke up to see his friends looking at him.

"How do you feel?" Simba asked.

"I've been better" Akili replied in a quiet voice.

"How does going back to Priderock and having some food sound?" Nala asked.

"It sounds lovely" Akili responded.

They picked him back up and carried him back to Priderock. He looked back and smiled. He mouthed a "Thank you" behind the four knowing Karibu would be there.

"Did you see something Akili?" Kovu said in curiosity.

"Nope, just admiring the view" Akili said happily.

Akili no longer felt the guilt for leaving his brother in a time of need. He was at peace knowing he finally got to say goodbye. Deep down Akili had a feeling things would be different. Things were going to change. Starting with him.


End file.
